Manchester Fire and EMS receive new equipment

Manchester Fire and EMS revealed a new automatic CPR device and other equipment for EMS personnel.
Manchester Volunteer Fire Department member Kevin Walters discussed the new loading system and CPR device at the Manchester Village Council meeting on Monday. The equipment was funded in majority by an Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation grant.
“The loading system will help reduce wear and tear on our backs and the Lucas machine will perform CPR,” Walters said.
The loading system is a hydraulic system which helps EMS personnel load people confined to their gurney onto an ambulance. The system will especially help with larger individuals, according to Walters.
Walters said that the loading system can help seriously reduce workplace injuries for the EMS personnel.
The LUCAS device is a device that, according to Walters, is designed to give the 100 chest compressions a minute recommended by the American Heart Association.
“It can give CPR far better than any human can,” Walters said.
While the device compresses the chest, a tone will sound alerting personnel when the recommended two rescue breaths are required, then the device will resume doing compressions.
According to a study done by medical journal CLINICS, after two minutes of CPR fatigue can greatly affect the rate and quality of compressions performed.
“It is beneficial to rotate rescuers every minute when performing continuous chest compressions to provide higher quality and to achieve greater success in assisting a victim of cardiac arrest,” the journal concluded.
Walters said that it typically takes around five people in the back of an ambulance to assist a patient.
“By us having this we can effectively run a code with two people in the back,” Walters said. “And if we absolutely had to we could do it with one person.”
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MVFD Assistant Chief Lonnie Bilyeu said the system could help with human fatigue and error.
“That thing keeps the same depth and the same rhythm,” Bilyeu said. “A person is bouncing up and down on the road, they get tired, the rhythm gets messed up. You are doing CPR but it’s not great CPR.”
According to Walters, the machine should work on anyone from around 10 years of age and up. It will also work on larger adults, Walter said.
“I hope no one ever has to wear it, but it’s a great thing to have when we need it,” Walters said.
Both pieces of equipment have a value of around $42,000, a majority of which was paid by the OBW grant. Currently, one ambulance team has access to the equipment. According to Walters, the department can apply for another grant through the OBW in three years.